Rob Ford calls for 'major sanctions' on Chris Spence on plagiarism

Chris Spence, the TDSB’s director of education, is an interesting study. One on one, he gives a polished, measured interview that would warm the cockles of any PR consultant.

But as an orator, he can bring a room full of teachers to its feet with a “let’s go out there and educate the hell out of those kids” pep talk worthy of (and indeed born in) a pro football locker room. I find it a very odd spectacle, but hey, the more enthusiastic teachers are, the better.

One of the central contradictions in his messaging, in my view, is between demanding tough-love accountability from students and not driving them away by penalizing lack of follow-through. I suppose this is widespread among modern educators, but in Spence’s case both seem central to his overall educational philosophy.

I asked him recently what he thought of so-called “no-zero policies,” for example, and by the time he finished answering he had twisted himself into two separate pretzels.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is calling for “major sanctions” for Toronto District School Board director Chris Spence who admitted to plagiarizing parts of an opinion piece in the Toronto Star and appears to have done it on other occasions.

“You can’t be the director of education and plagiarizing, let’s put it that way,” Mr. Ford said of Mr. Spence. Saying he has “never been a fan” of the director of education, Mr. Ford said he would leave it to the school board to dole out punishment.

Mr. Spence apologized in an open letter posted to the board’s website on Wednesday for failing to “give proper credit” to sources — including a 1989 New York Times story — in the article about the importance of extracurricular sports.

However, the National Post has found several instances in which Mr. Spence seems to have taken information from other articles without crediting them.

In December, the Star published an op-ed under Mr. Spence’s byline about the tragic mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. It included an anecdote — ostensibly about how Mr. Spence explained the horrific violence to his son Jacob — that closely resembles one described by another writer, Aisha Sultan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“Was anyone killed?” the boy asks. In Ms. Sultan’s work, he is 7. In Mr. Spence’s, his age has been changed to 10.

“Yes, some people were killed,” read the two columns, Mr. Spence’s published days after Ms. Sultan’s. “It’s very sad. But your school is safe. And I will do anything and everything to make sure you and your sister are always safe at school.”

Huge swaths of the remaining narrative appear to have been copied from a grab bag of sources: the Post-Dispatch, the Sacramento Bee and the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Related

COPY AND PASTE

Passages from a Chris Spence column in the Toronto Star on Dec. 17, in the wake of the Newtown school shooting, appear to have originated elsewhere.

Spence
In a culture increasingly inured to senseless violence, the terrible massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., is nonetheless horrible and disturbing beyond our imagination.”
Neil Hokanson, letter to U-T San Diego, Dec. 15
In a culture increasingly inured to senseless violence, the terrible massacre at Sandy Hook school is nonetheless horrible and disturbing beyond our jaded imagination.

Spence
It shakes us all to the core. We feel unsafe and the urge to protect and shield our own children has never been as fierce. I had the immediate desire to drop everything and pick up my kids from school, get back to the safety of our home, hug them and never let go.

Melissa Arca, Sacramento Bee, Dec. 15
It shakes us all to the core. We feel unsafe and the urge to protect and shield our own children has never been as fierce. Many had the immediate desire to drop everything and pick up their kids from school, get back to the safety of their homes, hug them and never let go.

Spence
But when I looked at my 10-year-old son, Jacob, I put on my calmest face.
“A terrible and sad thing happened today,” I said. “Someone shot a gun at a school.”
He looked at me for a minute, trying to understand what I had said.
“One of your schools, Dad? Was anyone killed?”
“No, not one of ours but, yes, some people were killed. It’s very sad. But your school is safe. And I will do anything and everything to make sure you and your sister are always safe at school.”
Then I hugged him.
Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 14
But when I looked at my 7-year-old son, I put on my calmest face.
“A terrible and sad thing happened today,” I said. “Someone shot a gun at a school.”
He looked at me for a minute, trying to understand what I had said.
“Was anyone killed?”
“Yes, some people were killed. It’s very sad. But your school is safe. And I will do anything and everything to make sure you and your sister are always safe at school.”
Then I hugged him.

Spence
In the immediate aftermath of this tragedy, this is what our children need: For us to reassure them, listen to them and comfort them.
We must also remind ourselves that schools are still exceedingly safe places for our children to be and believe it when we tell our children.

Sultan
In the immediate aftermath of a national tragedy, this is what our children need: For us to reassure them, listen to them and comfort them.
We need to remind ourselves that schools are still exceedingly safe places for our children to be and believe it when we tell our children.

A segment from a July 24 opinion piece published in the Star, pegged to this summer’s Danzig Street shootout, appears to be word-for-word from an online “healthy students plan” originating in Connecticut. An October 2011 entry to his personal blog about the Chinese education system appears strikingly similar to information in The New York Times, Time magazine and other sources.

Attempts to reach Mr. Spence for further comment were unsuccessful.

But in his public apology Wednesday, Mr. Spence — caught out by a Star reader — made no mention of these other instances. He merely acknowledged he “did not give proper credit” after taking notes from other sources in his Jan. 6 article.

“I can provide excuses for how and why this happened — that I was rushed, that I was sloppy, that I was careless — but that’s all they would be: excuses,” Mr. Spence wrote in an open letter published to the TDSB’s website. “There is no excuse for what I did. In the position I am honoured to occupy, in the wonderful job I do every single day, I of all people should have known that. I am ashamed and embarrassed by what I did. I have invited criticism and condemnation, and I richly deserve both.”

Upon learning of the Jan. 6 plagiarism, the school board announced Wednesday it would hold an emergency meeting before the week is out to decide how to respond. TDSB chair Chris Bolton — contacted before the Post uncovered more instances — would not rule out terminating the popular director, but stressed the need to consult with other trustees before making any decision on possible censure.

“Everyone in the school board always has to comply with our policies and procedures. It doesn’t matter whether they’re a student, parent, teacher, trustee, chair of the board or anybody else… If we don’t follow [policies], then we’re not being true to our vision of public education in Toronto, so I think this is a very grave concern,” Mr. Bolton said. Asked whether he would consider firing Mr. Spence, the chair responded: “Honestly, at this point, I don’t know.”

Later, upon hearing of the additional examples, Mr. Bolton said he was “shocked” but still uncertain of the next step.

Councillor Shelley Carroll, a former co-chair of the TDSB, said Mr. Spence should resign over the incident.

“He has a very out there, motivational, Tony Robbins’ almost style of leadership and the credibility to continue to exercise that style is just gone,” she said. “It’s regrettable that rather than step down, he’s asking the trustees to fight about it.”

In his letter, Mr. Spence said he plans to enrol in Ryerson University’s ethics and law in journalism course, which includes a component on identification and avoidance of plagiarism. He also issued an unreserved apology.

“I apologize, in particular, to my colleagues at TDSB, and to all those families and children we are privileged to serve. I have let them all down,” Mr. Spence said. “It goes without saying that it will never happen again.”

Ryerson University journalism professor Lisa Taylor, who teaches the ethics course in which Mr. Spence expressed interest, said individuals in positions of power and influence should adhere to an even higher standard than students — yet often, they are more readily forgiven such transgressions.

“That just doesn’t make sense,” Ms. Taylor said. “[These are] people who really are in a position to know better.”

Asked whether Mr. Spence may benefit from her class, Ms. Taylor replied: “I’d like to think anyone could benefit from my class, but I also think that these concepts aren’t very difficult ones to get your head around once you realize that this, too, could happen to you.”